“Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia.” -Morpheus to Neo.
This quote pretty much sums up the majority of The Matrix Resurrections. Back in 2003, it looked like the Wachowskis had closed the door on Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and the other characters at the end of The Matrix Revolutions. Well, almost.
Now Lana Wachowski is flying solo directing and cowriting this fourth installment without her sister, Lilly and the result is mostly successful enough to warrant another trip down the rabbit hole.
I was initially skeptical of a fourth Matrix film being made. After all, Revolutions pretty much said and did everything that needed to be said and done with these characters and their fates, but I guess Wachowski was waxing nostalgic to bring them back. I don’t have too many complaints about that.
What I want from a Matrix movie: Lots of sensational action and special effects, intriguing characters, philosophical debates about the nature of reality, and hopefully, a coherent plot to make it all worthwhile. Resurrections succeeds where it shouldn’t.
It should come as no surprise that Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity despite the fact that they died at the end of Revolutions. How they return, I won’t give away, except to say that the answer is one that features complicated expository dialogue that only Lana Wachowski could deliver.
Neo a.k.a Thomas Anderson now has returned to life in The Matrix. He lives in San Francisco and works as a video game developer. His most successful game is creating a trilogy of games based on his experiences inside the Matrix.
Jonathan Graff costars as his business partner who informs Thomas that “Warner Brothers wants a fourth Matrix game.” If this sounds meta, you’re not alone. There’s a lot of fourth-wall-breaking going on in Resurrections and it comes across one of two ways: Hilariously self-aware or dangerously close to self-parody.
It isn’t long before Thomas reunites with Trinity who now goes by Tiffany. She’s married and has two kids. Both suspect a connection, but they can’t quite put the pieces of the puzzle together yet.
In the meantime, Thomas has regular therapy sessions with the Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) in which he describes his experiences. All the Analyst does is prescribe him blue pills to suppress his condition.
Thomas also encounters two rebels searching for him in the form of Bugs (Jessica Harwick) and the return of Morpheus only this time it’s not Laurence Fishburne, but Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He’s an alternate version of the character who again discovers Thomas’ true identity as Neo and gives him the choice of the Red Pill or the Blue Pill. I’ll let you figure out which one Neo takes.
The first Matrix back in 1999 was a groundbreaking piece of sci-fi filmmaking. It featured a mind-blowing premise and stunning visuals that supported the story. It still remains the best, largely due to its sense of originality and inventiveness. The subsequent sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions let down both critics and audiences by being convoluted and pretentious with a less-than-satisfying conclusion. Thankfully, Resurrections redeems the franchise by introducing enough fresh elements to keep it afloat instead of feeling completely redundant.
At times, the plot can feel a bit meandering. The nostalgia is on full display with a lot of scenes echoing the trilogy. You might find yourself wondering if this is more of a greatest hits album instead of new material.
Nevertheless, Lana Wachowski expands the universe of the Matrix in some unexpected ways that hold our attention, and Reeves and Moss at 57 and 54 respectively still have the same amount of energy that they did back in 1999. They’re not phoning it in.
If you liked the first three Matrix movies, you’ll like this one. If you didn’t, there’s no use in convincing you to see this one.
Grade: A-
(Rated R for violence and some language.)
